Stolen
by Wolfenlady
Summary: (OC/Ronon, OC/Shep) When Senior Chief Ripley Todd goes through a bad break up an unexpected romance begins to form, changing her doubts to hopes.
1. Chapter 1

**Stolen**

**Chapter 1**

"Figured I'd find you here," Wick leaned against the door to the Atlantis gym. Ripley spared him a glance as she worked on the lat pull down. She was alone in the gym and had very much preferred it that way, but Wick wasn't having it. "Wanna talk?"

"What is there to say?" She asked darkly as she pulled the weights down and let them up at a steady pace. "He's made his choice." Sweat dripped down the back of her neck and reminded her that she had been in the gym for more than an hour.

Wick slid his hands into his pockets, watched the woman carefully. "Have you?"

The weights fell with a clang and she leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "Dan," Ripley began, her voice was soft, but dead-like. Wick hated the use of his first name, especially from Ripley. "He doesn't _want_ me. That's all there is."

"There's gotta be more to it."

"I don't know what to tell you," she shrugged her sore shoulders. She took a steadying breath and willed herself not to cry. "I gave him everything I was, all that I had and he let me go." She rose from the bench. "Lesson learned." She stooped to lift her water bottle and glanced at him. "That all?" She brushed by him, stopped as he grabbed her arm.

"Are you okay?" His green eyes watched as her brown eyes glimmered with fresh tears.

"It's nothing booze and hockey can't fix." She answered and left him.

"But not your team." He said to the empty gym. "Not your brothers."

0-0-0

Owen was the next batter up. He had tried to break Craig Baxter down, but the man hadn't budged, and had looked almost as hurt as Ripley, but not so hurt that he hadn't slipped his room location to a nurse. Bennett sighed, men could be so stupid. Craig wanted off Atlantis, Rip wouldn't budge. Relationship over. He glanced at his watch, 2100hrs; God willing Rip would be awake. He opened the door to her quarters. It was pitch black inside. "Don't you knock?" Ripley asked from the cozy armchair that occupied a corner of her room, a bottle of Blue Moon dangled from her fingers and her scowl was a welcome relief. A sad country song crooned in the background about a stupid boy.

"Don't you believe in lights?" The SEAL proceeded to flip them on and drew in a small breath at the six empty bottles that littered the floor. "Rip."

"Stop," She lifted the bottle and pointed it at him. "I don't want a lecture and I sure as hell don't want a pep talk."

"It's nine o'clock at night and you're sitting in the dark wallowing in beer listening to sad country music. What do you want me to do?"

"To leave me alone."

Owen rolled his black eyes. "Stop self-pitying."

"I'm only self-pitying if I say I'll never find anyone again." She pointed out easily.

"Will you?"

"Fuck no, but I didn't say that 'till now."

Owen sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. "What happened?"

"Said we were friends trying to be in a relationship," she sneered at her bottle. "Pussy footed around it for two fucking hours." Had it really only been eighteen hours ago? She thought and felt the tears begin to fall. "One year of my life is gone, wasted."

"It wasn't wasted Rip."

"Oh obviously," she snapped sarcastically.

"You're twenty-six; you have seventy-four years give or take to find another one."

"Friends trying to be in a relationship," Ripley repeated. "Is that guy code for something? Is that a code for 'I'm cheating' or 'I'm gay' or 'I found someone better'. Any of that?" She rose from her chair only to fall back as the room spun. Deftly she finished her beer and pulled out another from her mini fridge.

"It's a coward's way out," said Owen as she popped the top on bottle number seven. "He was bored or he was afraid of commitment."

"I never asked for a fuckin' ring."

"But you wanted it."

Ripley took a swig of her beer. "Every woman does."

"And every man knows that, we're constantly terrified of it." Owen took the bottle from her. "You've had enough."

"What are you my mother?" She snapped and tried to take it back. She fell faced forward into her hockey bag. "Fuck me." She groaned.

"Well, you're single now."

She laughed for the first time all day.

0-0-0

Omega held a meeting without Ripley the next morning. Flea stumbled into Owen's quarters, bleary eyed and still in his Easton sweat pants. "What's up?"

"Where in the hell have you been?" Wick, coffee in hand, snapped. "We're picking up the pieces of Rip and you're doing jack shit."

Flea winced and rubbed his temples. "Wick, tone it down." His head felt like a damn frying pan had hit it multiple times.

Owen big, black and burly rose from the sitting area. "Boy, I ought to whip you. You cared more about getting trashed then about Rip?"

"I've been off world numb nuts," Flea sat down on the couch. "And believe me the natives are very friendly."

"When you come off your sex high and hang over maybe we can think about Toddy for a minute?" Slovak offered from the diagonal arm chair. The Russian who had made himself part of Omega looked from one man to the other. "She's broken up; I mean he has fucked her over."

"She didn't wanna play hockey last night," Wick added. "I offered after Owen left her."

"That's how you know Rip's fucked up," Bennett said. "Same as high school."

"I forgot you guys went to high school together," Wick admitted with a sheepish grin. "You seen this before?"

"Not this bad."

"So, what did she say?" Flea accepted the coffee that Wick had prepared for him, and burnt his tongue on the first sip.

Wick sighed as he sat beside Flea. "Classic Ripley response, y'know, nothing booze and hockey can't or won't fix."

"She's doing the booze pretty well," said Owen darkly as he stood hipshot by the armchair he had occupied. "We should fuck Craig up."

"Bennett…"

"We should, ya know how easy it'd be to fuck him up? He's just a doctor, a pudgy fucking bastard."

"You're not at all mad about this are you?" Slovak drawled sarcastically. Owen shot him the finger. "Should we drag her to play hockey? Make her watch a game?"

"Maybe she just needs to be alone right now?" Flea offered. The other three shot a look at him. He lifted his hands in surrender, as the youngest in the group he had the least experience. "We could tell Jess."

"Do you think Jess knows yet?" Wick asked as he thought about the Air Force lieutenant. "Or Mary? Or Robyn?"

"I don't know dude, but if anyone can whip Rip into shape it's Jess." Flea answered.

"I don't know if whipping is what she needs at the moment," Owen interjected. The trio lifted their brows. "Look, Ripley isn't always a fuckin' hard ass, there are bruises in there, and some of them run deep. Rejection, if not initiated by her, is a big one."

Wick rubbed a hand over his forehead and shook his head. "So you're sayin' if she'd broken up with him, she'd be fine?"

"Not fine, just better off."

"So…?" Slovak prompted.

"So we need to….coddle her." Owen answered.

"Coddle?" Flea looked at Wick confusedly. "Speak American."

"He means baby her," Slovak rolled his eyes. "How do you baby Rip?"

"I have no idea," Owen sat with a sigh. "I really don't."

"It's not like we can give her a bubble bath, champagne, polish her nails, do facials or that kinda thing." Flea said after a moment's thought.

"No but we have beer and Funyuns."

"How about we keep her away from booze for the next month or so," Owen decided with a slight smirk.

"I say we call in the estrogen and then we'll take over."

"All right…who gets to play messenger?" Slovak asked. His team turned toward him, and Owen grinned. "Fuck."

0-0-0

Sergei Slovak didn't often shy away from women, he was a member of the Russian army, a six foot six blond, blue eyed wall of muscle, but to set foot in Robyn Fairday's lab was the toughest thing he had done since coming to Atlantis. The tall curvy woman was bent over the microscope in front of her while Fall Out Boy played in the background. This week her hair was as bright as a copper penny where as the week before it had been siren red. He shook his head, women confused him. Rip was easy, always had been, just one of the guys. Her friends on the other hand must have all made up her female side. "Dr. Fairday." He said gently. The head popped up, and green eyes zeroed in. She smiled in greeting, but it faded as she caught his nervous fiddling.

"What's wrong Sergei?" She asked. She was one of the few who called him by his first name, and at once he felt guilty that he was here to be a burden. "Is Omega okay? Is Rip?"

"It's about Rip…" He admitted.

Robyn set aside the slide she had been working on. "What happened?" Sergei explained it to as quickly and efficiently as he could. She lifted a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. "We were hoping…well, Omega was hoping maybe—"

"A woman's touch?" Robyn asked as she skirted around the work bench.

"Yeah." Slovak nodded, and shrugged his broad shoulders.

Robyn smiled warmly, and laid a hand on his muscular forearm. "You're a good man Sergei, all of you are." With that she departed the lab and went in search of two others.

0-0-0

"Go further!" Jess Gerry roared at her teammates, she drew her arm back and hurled the football the length of the hallway. Dennis Seidenberg leaped into the air and got it; he dodged his teammate Tyler Sergy and spiked the ball at the end. Where Ripley had hockey, Jess had her football.

"Jess," Robyn stood at the far end, her hands clasped in front of her. "Minute?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Ripley." With just the name Jess jogged over. Robyn explained as they walked in search of the last member..

"Fuck me running," Jess groaned. "What a fuckin' pussy."

"So eloquently put." Robyn said dryly. Jess grinned. "Any idea where Mary is?"

"Uh, no. Did you check the infirmary?"

"I was trying to avoid it," Robyn admitted. "Unless you want to go to the infirmary?" She grinned wickedly.

Jess grinned back. "Wouldn't hurt to peek in now would it?" In a few moments they regretted peeking in as they had caught Craig in the act with a new nurse. Robyn and Jess returned to the commissary in silence, fury boiling. "Now we know why they were friends…" Jess offered.

"I'll kill him myself," the scientist snarled. The lieutenant's brows winged up at the violence. "Oh, don't look so surprised."

"Proud."

"Mary!" Robyn lifted her arm to wave the nurse over. Mary O'Connell jogged toward them and arrived breathless. "You heard?"

"Everything," Mary lifted the two shopping bags she held. "I've got chips, wine, nail polish, facial masks, bubble bath, a vibrator or two and chocolate."

"How do you do it?" Jess asked with smirk.

"I know people," Mary shrugged as she led the way toward Ripley's room. "Anyways Craig is banging Heidi or whatever her name is."

Robyn gaped. "We saw him with Christina."

"The plot thickens," Mary muttered. They passed Omega who was playing pass in the hallway with sticks and stick handling ball. Wick paused in his pass to cross the air as the women went by. "Thanks Daniel," Mary grinned at him. He shrugged sheepishly.

"May the power of Christ compel you," Flea called after them with a laugh. Jess flipped him the bird.

0-0-0

It was dark in her quarters, pitch black as she was becoming to prefer. Her hockey bag lay untouched in the corner with her sticks laying over it like roses on a grave. She had picked up her room, organized it to keep busy, spent time in the gym and had all but collapsed on the bed when she arrived. Once on the bed she had the urge to strip it and flipped the mattress put on fresh sheets and a new comforter, she wanted his smell gone. She had washed things that had been in his room, including her stuffed teddy bear Bergy. Now at peace with the scent on her bed she lay and stared at her ceiling. The afternoon sun tried to come in past her curtains, but she had taped them to the sill. The sound of her doorbell had her sighing. There was no off world mission planned for the next three days but that didn't mean anything.

"Cut the fuckin' shit!" She hollered as it kept ringing.

"Honey I'm home!" Jess ran into the room and landed on top of Ripley. "Oh god what is that smell? Have you showered?"

"Go the fuck away!" Ripley buried her head beneath her pillow.

"I forgot ice cream," Mary snapped her fingers. "Wick! Ice cream!"

"What kind!" Came the shout back.

"Rocky Road!" Three shouts answered. Wick rolled his eyes and muttered of course. Jess was already hauling Ripley into the bathroom. She flung the water on, and stripped Ripley roughly of her clothing. "I want you shaved, cleaned, and teeth brushed," Jess finished the sentence by shoving Ripley into the burning hot shower.

"Son of a bitch!" The shriek was followed by a scuffle into the wall to turn down the temperature. "Fuck!"

"And there's more where that came from," Robyn shouted with Scottish accent ended with sharp nod. Jess high fived her and they waited patiently while Ripley cleaned herself. Mary brought the ice cream in, lifted over her head like the Stanley Cup. "And he brought spoons." She brandished them like a sword. "Smart man."

Ripley emerged a cloud of steam arriving with her. Jess sniffed the air. "Ah, the fresh scent of, what is that? Secret Wonderland?"

"Spot on." Ripley plopped onto the couch between Jess and Robyn. "So, I guess this has spread over Atlantis." She stretched her long legs clothed in Bauer sweatpants out onto the table.

Mary sighed softly. "It's made its way around."

"That's not the only thing," Jess muttered. Ripley glanced at her. Jess winced at her big mouth.

"So, I was right?" The senior chief whispered softly. Robyn glowered at Jess. "Who?"

"There's conflicting answers," Robyn took the reins. "Heidi or Christina or both."

"Guess he couldn't handle our hockey player," quipped Mary and raised her first glass of wine in salute.

Ripley's sad brown eyes found smiling blue and she offered a slight smile. "Guess so."


	2. Chapter 2

**Stolen**

Chapter Two

0-0-0

One hour later Ripley happily buzzed gazed at her bright blue toe nails, her seventh or eighth glass of wine in one hand and the other hand was being painted a bright pink by Robyn. "So, I should find someone, y'know, rebound this shit. Haven't had a dick in me in the last six months—that shoulda clued me in." Ripley finished off the glass and dug her dried nails hand into the bag of munchos.

"You poor thing," Jess cooed as she painted her own nails a bright orange. "Wanna borrow Shep?"

"Pass, Burt Reynold's isn't my style."

"Could always go after Ronon," Robyn offered. "Bet he'd be willing." She blew across Ripley's nails to hurry the drying.

"Maybe, don't know if he's attracted to me though." Ripley debated on it as she chewed her chips and surveyed her nails. "There's always Lorne, too."

"I see him more relationship then fuck and leave," Mary, already blitzed, commented as she danced by herself to 'Come to My Window'. She finished her glass of wine and held it to Jess for a refill. "And I brought vibrators."

"You can't use one on me, sorry love," Ripley replied with a grin. Mary stuck her tongue out. "Oooh, tongue, you know what I like."

"Sweetheart no one knows what you like, you're an animal," Jess teased. "Bebe, let's dance."

"Let's not and say we did."

"Even drunk you have no moves."

"Dude, do you still have twister?" Robyn slapped the arm of the couch excitedly. Ripley nodded. "Break it out."

"Sure you won't throw a hip out?" Mary quipped. Robyn stuck her tongue out. "Ya know I'm seeing a lot of tongue, but no action."

"Twister it is." Ripley rose from her seat and promptly fell back on her ass, cackling.

"I'll find it!" Jess, now wearing a goalies mask circa 1940's, ran crookedly toward the closet. She whipped it open and hunted under NHL Monopoly and Battle of the Sexes to retrieve it. "Got it!" Her shout of victory was promptly followed by Mary shouting she had found the tequila.

0-0-0

"Should we check on them?" Sergei asked as Omega watched a recent NHL game between the Rangers and Maple Leafs.

"They're fine," Owen said as he watched DiPietro make a save. "Should be."

"They had wine and tequila."

"And vibrators." Wick tossed in. The men shared a look and rose in unison. "Safety's sake and all, ya know, just to check."

"Oh yeah, safety and all." Owen led the way down the hall. They could hear the laughter the moment they turned the corner to where Omega's quarters were. "This is gonna be awesome." Owen grinned and swiped the door open. His jaw dropped.

"Spin the fuckin' thing!" Ripley's slurred voice ordered from where she was balanced on two hands and her feet below Jess. Robyn, one hand on the spinner, the other on blue grunted as she finally flicked it.

"Right hand yellow!" Shouted a shirtless Robyn. Wick noted at that point that they were all in various states of undress.

"Meh arm doesn't go that way!" Jess' voice, accented with a horrible Scottish brogue, had Flea roaring with laughter.

"Man down!" Mary landed on her side as she giggled endlessly.

"Medic!" Jess dropped on top of Ripley who cursed the air blue. Mary crawled over on top of Jess and Ripley. "Mouth to mouth, coming up!" Omega's jaws dropped open, Wick pulled out his phone to video.

"Men!" Ripley's shout jolted the soon to be kissing females. Immediately silence fell over the women. "Which one of you?" She stumbled to her feet, Robyn's hand firmly on her ass to keep her steady.

Owen cocked his head. "What?"

"Which one of yoooou is gonna fuck—" She ran her hands down her half naked body. "This." Owen squeezed his eyes shut even as Wick, laughing, taped the entire thing. "Any takers? Quick in and out. I'm clean."

"Rippy I think we should just take care of ourselves." Robyn stated with a sharp nod. "Fuck men."

"I know tha's what I'm a trying ta do." Ripley fell back onto the mat beside Robyn, nuzzled into her neck. "I'm so alone!"

"If no one else is gonna offer I'll jump on that," Sergei offered after a moment consideration.

"'Scuse me, if anyone gets first dibs here it's gonna be me or Wick," interrupted Owen with a dark scowl. "We've been waiting the longest."

"Could have an orgy." Flea stated.

"I think their drunk enough."

"Pass," was the chorus from all four women. Owen winced. "Well, I think it's time to break this little shindig up."

"What!? No!?" The chorus of negatives had him scowling hard. They went silent. Ripley sniffled softly. "But they're my fweinds."

"I know."

"You're not my real mom!" She shouted and burst into a fit of giggles with Robyn. Wickwire watched as his commanding officer clung to one of the smartest women on Atlantis as giggles befell them.

Owen muttered. "Men, pick a woman, and put them in a bed—their bed." He emphasized with a scolding look at Flea. Sergei strode forward and plucked Robyn up as if she were a sack of potatoes. She fanned herself, hazel eyes gleaming with affection. "He's strong, and handsome," she drawled in a southern accent. She slid her arms around his neck and pressed against him, fully testing the restraint of the Russian. He groaned softly, but was hell bent to bring her to her room, and just to her room. One by one Ripley watched in a drunken haze as her friends departed. "Loves you alls!" She shouted giddily, and grinned up at Owen. She lifted her arms up, motioned with her fingers. Owen sighed softly and picked her up, he was surprised to find her lighter than the last time he had picked her up, not even a month before.

"Owen…" Ripley murmured and nuzzled into his muscular neck. "Owen, Owen, Owen…" Her full lips pressed against his pulse point and had a jolt of heat shoot straight to his loins. "Will you take me to bed?"

"You're drunk Rip." He said softly, and set her on the edge of her bed, pulled back the covers. "I'm not taking advantage of a drunken friend, let alone a drunken officer."

"You don't want me?" She asked, her lower lip jutted out, she laid back across the bed, ran her hands over her bare stomach, that she always hid. "Why does no one wanna sleep with me? The man I dated for one fuckin' year stopped sleeping with me after six goddamn months!"

"Hey," Owen, frustrated beyond belief, and fighting a raging hard on, hauled her upright. "Look at me…" He pinched her chin between his thumb and forefinger, pulled her head up. Brown eyes jerked slightly side to side, gazed into black. "I want you Ripley; I'd have you right here, right now, if I knew I could give you more than a drunken fuck. But I can't." She wobbled a little, let her eyes drop. "I love you, Ripley, but I'm not in love with you—you're my best friend, you're like a really hot sister that I'd give one helluv a good night to, but that's it. Men like me don't settle down."

"Got it." She muttered. He sighed softly, hoped she wouldn't remember it in the morning and got her tucked into bed. She watched him leave and doomed herself to an eternity alone.

0-0-0


	3. Chapter 3

She woke to a raging headache, an insanely bright sun beam directly in her eyes and a mouth she could have sworn was covered with fur. Wincing she rubbed a hand across her face, and squinted at her room. Wine bottles, tequila bottles and empty bags of junk food were strewn everywhere. The twister mat was scrunched up in a corner, and—she frowned—a table from the cafeteria set up for what looked like water pong with shots. She didn't even remember moving it the night before. Ripley groaned as her door opened and Wick entered with a tray. "Morning sunshine." He greeted her cheerfully. Ripley moaned and burrowed her head beneath a pillow. "Yeah, figured you'd be hung over. Here, coffee, toast, and a bloody Mary. I don't know what works for ya." He set the tray down on her night stand. "And the guys are coming to move the table back to the café."

"Appreciate it," she said, her voice muffled by the pillow.

Wick smiled and took a seat in her armchair as her bed tousled brown hair appeared. "Feel better?"

"Stupid," she admitted and burnt her tongue on the coffee she thoroughly despised, but was willing to drink.

"And?"

"Ashamed." She nibbled at the toast, felt her stomach churn and set it aside, fell back to coffee.

Wick nodded with a grim smirk. "Well, at least you woke up by yourself."

"That's something." She rose from her bed, and realized her state of dress. It hurt to move, and she could give a shit if Wick saw her body at that point. "I'm gonna shower."

"I'll clean up." Wick rose and tapped his headset to call in Omega. Ripley turned in the doorway of the bathroom, watched her team enter with trash bags.

"Thanks you guys…for everything."

"That's what brothers are for." Flea quipped with a grin. She returned it and prepared to return to single life.

0-0-0

Ronon Dex watched Ripley from the doorway of the gym. He had been gone off world for nearly three months on a negotiating mission and had returned a week before. He hadn't seen Ripley in a total of four months and he could see those four months had taken a toll on her. She was focused on the punching bag that hung in the gym. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hit the bag twice with her right hand, one on the left and finished with a roundhouse kick that had her landing hard on her ass. He watched her shoulders hunch forward in what he took for defeat, until she slowly gained her feet. She was thinner, there was no denying it. The fury burned in him for what Craig had been able to do to the woman he had secretly yearned for. The woman who should have been his to begin with. Instead he had stood idly by and let her be snatched up.

"You stepped," Ronon said gruffly as she landed once more this time on her hip. Brown eyes zeroed in on the intruder, and he saw her relax, only slightly. He offered a hand, wriggled his fingers when she hesitated and hauled her to her feet once she conceded. "Pivot, don't step." He instructed and stepped back. He could see the tightness in her shoulders from being told what to do. She did it once more and landed, in his opinion, the perfect kick. "Again." He ran her through the kicks until her hip ached and then had her switch sides, watching patiently as she picked herself up another four times. When she finally dropped to the mats to stretch he sat near her, leaned on the wall. His green eyes watched as she extended one long, toned leg to the side.

"How was the negotiations?" She finally spoke, brown eyes glancing casually at him, checked for injuries.

"Uneventful," admitted Ronon. "Missed home." He still found it hard to believe that after three years he could call Atlantis his home and mean it. "Missed you." He added quietly, so quiet that she almost didn't hear it.

"I coulda used you two months ago," said Ripley as she switched the side she was stretching on. He understood her meaning. She had needed a sparring partner.

"I heard…"

She let out a bitter laugh. "All of Atlantis heard champ, I'm surprised it hasn't spread to the entire galaxy." She lay down and pulled her leg across her thigh, gazed at the ceiling. "I'm over it."

"Are you?" He challenged. She gave him a quiet look. He shrugged. "You look thinner, not that there was an issue before."

"There was an issue before; at least by military standards," she shot back, stretched easily. "But yeah, I've lost weight, like fifteen pounds or something."

"Your chest is smaller."

She puckered her lips. "Thanks for noticing." Was the dry remark. He grinned easily. "You're one of the few who's noticed."

"I notice you Rip," he confessed as he rose to his feet, he looked down from where he towered at 6'5. "More than I should." And with that he departed. Ripley, brows furrowed, watched him leave.

0-0-0

"What kinda cryptic shit is that?" Jess asked as she and Ripley jogged around Atlantis the next morning. She gazed enviously as Rip's long, toned legs, and down at her shorter, thicker legs. They had become more toned since running with Ripley, that was something at least, and the thought perked her up.

"I don't know," Ripley puffed out as she rounded a corner and dodged around a group of chattering scientists. "Was it necessary for him to mention my tits shrinking?"

"Was it necessary to mention your tits at all? Although, you know, they're nice…and all…" Jess drew even with Ripley who had adjusted her pace so her friend could keep up.

"Thanks," Ripley flashed a quick smile at her best friend. "Still more than a handful."

"And you have man hands, so that' something."

"Fuck your mothah." Was the half hearted insult. Jess grinned and caught the wonderful sight of the gate. "Sprint the last." Ripley ordered and kicked it into high gear, her pink and black running shoes a blur as she reached the gates five lengths ahead of Jess. Ronon turned with an arched brow at the panting. John looked around his friend and grinned. Jess was bent over at the waist, wheezing. Ripley stood, feet shoulders width apart, breathing heavily.

"Looking good honey," Shep called encouragingly over to Jess, who gave a thumbs up. "How's she doing Chief?"

"Twenty minutes for a mile nine, so not too shabby. She'll be doing 5K in no time."

"Not cramping your style?"

"She's been cramping my style since middle school." Ripley shrugged her shoulders; Ronon watched them quietly, considering an approach. Her brown eyes, glinting with humor landed on him, and she smiled. "Up for sparring later?"

"I can fit you in," Ronon teased with a shrug. She inclined her chin. "Three?"

"Sounds good." She nudged Jess. "C'mon, we're gonna lift some weights." Shep waited until they were out of ear shot before he turned. "What're you doin'?"

"What?" Ronon raised his brows.

"With Rip?"

"Sparring."

"Ronon." Shep cocked his head to one side, trying to read the impassive expression. "You still like her?" The runner shrugged. "Dude…it's been like three years."

"So?" Ronon shifted his bulk, gazed down at Shep. "What's your point?" He ran a hand through his hair, finally getting used to the lightness of not having dreadlocks.

"I didn't think—you know—it's a crush….three years, having a crush—never mind." John shook his head. "But I'm telling you now, it's not gonna be easy."

"I like a challenge." Ronon replied with a wolfish grin. "I won't hurt her. Worse comes to worse it'll just be sex." He departed with those words.

"I don't think you get it." Shep muttered to himself. "It's not her I'm worried about."

0-0-0

"Again." Ronon helped Ripley off the mats with a one handed yank; she rubbed her ass scowling at him. "You're better."

"You've been saying that for three years Ronon."

"Statement stands." He replied with a shrug. "Again." He waited as she got in position. He attacked slowly, letting her block, and aimed a light slap at her ear. "Don't let the guard down." He scolded. Automatically her hackles raised even as she brought her hands back up to guard her face. She blocked his next two attacks and surprised him by leaping forward and taking him down at the waist. Her ground game was better; she had learned that, she was quicker, and more agile against the larger man. Ronon grunted as her knee connected to his side and after a few moments pegged her with her back against his chest. She sighed, panted with her cheek pressed to the mat below her.

"Give?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, waited till he moved and rammed her elbow into his side. He collapsed with a grunt. "Now I give." He laughed and slapped her gently on the thigh. "I am getting better."

"I told you," Ronon got to his feet and pulled her up. Off balance she fell forward into his chest, clung to his muscular arms for support. Cautiously she lifted her head, and gazed into hungry hazel eyes. Had she ever had a man look at her the way Ronon Dex did? She wondered. His gaze dropped down to her full lips. Her breath seemed to stop as he lowered his head.

"Ripley!" Wick sprinted into the room and watched the two jump apart. "Suit up we gotta go."

"Right, yeah…" Ripley hurriedly gathered her things and smiled apologetically at Ronon before she sprinted out Wick, with a grin at Ronon, went after her.

"Was he about to plant one on ya?" Wick caught up with Ripley.

"I won't know now will I Wick?"

"Oh, I bet you will soon," promised her 2IC. She scowled at him and boarded the jumper with her team.


End file.
